Tuesday, August 27, 2013

An open letter to the Norwegian Foreign Minister: Mr. Espen Barth Eide

August 27, 2013

You surprised me yesterday evening. I really didn't expect to see you
here. Especially following a two hour tour the previous day with your
Tiph staff. Following a successful and interesting tour, at Tel Hebron,
at the Hebron museum, at the ancient synagogue, and even a visit in my
home, I would have, perhaps expected that they would have been polite
enough to have informed me of your upcoming visit. Yet they didn’t.

But, then again, nothing can surprise me in Hebron. And actually, if
Tiph had any manners, they would not be here in the first place. After
all, when a guest knows he's unwanted, the polite reaction is to leave.
Tiph knows that it is an 'unwanted guest.' So they have been for almost
two decades. The time really has come that they leave Hebron.

When we met out on the street, we really didn't have much time to speak.
I believe it would have been beneficial for you to meet with me and
other leaders of the Hebron Jewish community. This would have presented
you with an opportunity to hear our view, perhaps unknown to you,
directly from us, without any intermediaries. You could have presented a
differing opinion, we could have discussed the current situation and
also options for the future.

It is my understanding that you, together with many other European
leaders, are involved in the negotiations between Israel and our Arab
neighbors. You have been pressuring Israel to resume talks with the
Arabs for years. In other words, you understand that a necessary
prerequisite to any kind of peace is communication, direct
communications between the various and opposing parties involved.

We too are a party to this dispute. Therefore, theoretically, you should
not only be willing, but also desire, to speak too with us. Rather than
ignore us, relating to us as if we don’t exist, transparencies.

But, on the other hand, perhaps it was better that we not converse with
you. After all, you really aren’t an objective player in the middle-east
conflict. You and your Norwegian friends have much blood on your hands.
Directly, or indirectly, you are responsible for the terrorist murders
of over 1,500 Jews, killed in the past twenty years.

Because, Mr. Foreign Minister, your country has the dubious honor of
being part of one of the greatest curses in the history of existence,
perhaps second only to that of the snake in the Garden of Eden.

That curse, is, of course, Oslo. That name, that expression, will be
remembered in annals of world history, for eternity, as one of the
largest catastrophes of all time.

Yet you continue, as does a snake, seeking you’re your next,
unsuspecting victim. Except that in this case, the victim of 2013 is the
identical victim of 1993.

Oslo put the security of the lives of Israelis in the hands of our
enemy. Oslo led to massive terror, to the Hebron Accords, dividing the
first Jewish city in Israel, abandoning most of the city to Arafat,
while also abandoning the security of its Jewish residents. Oslo led to
the 2nd Intifada, the Oslo War, when tens of thousands were injured and
over a thousand killed. Communities throughout Israel were shot at from
Arab-populated cities. Gilo in Jerusalem was attacked from Beit Jala
and Bethlehem. Hebron’s Jewish population was transformed into ducks in a
pond, targets of Arab snipers from the hills surrounding us, hills
abandoned to Arafat and PA terrorists in 1997. People were shot at in
their apartments, in cars, walking on the street. Ten month old
Shalhevet Pass was murdered by a sniper. The Levy couple was blown up by
a suicide bomber. Rabbi Shlomo Ra’anan was stabbed to death in his
bedroom. Rabbi Eli Horowitz and his wife Dina were shot to death in
their Kiryat Arba home. And the list goes on and on and on.

These lives, and those of thousands of others, their blood, is on your
hands. The name of your capital city will be stained with the blood of
these victims until the end of time.

But that is not enough. Arriving in Israel, speaking about the release
of terrorist murderers, you were quoted as saying, “That wasn’t an
especially big sacrifice, but it was a first sign.”

Mr. Eide, seventy years ago Jews sacrificed between six to seven million
Jews, while the world sat on the sidelines, watching, yet doing
nothing. Over 23,000 soldiers and security forces have been sacrificed
since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Over two thousand
people have been ‘sacrifices of piece,’ since commencement of Oslo.

Releasing murderers of our people, that is a ‘small sacrifice’ so that they may return to kill more Jews?

Mr. Foreign Minister, Israel is very interested in peace, but not in
piece, one piece taken from us, then another, then another. Only a
couple of weeks ago, the Voice of Palestine radio broadcast, “"Greetings
to all our listeners and happy holiday to you, our people in occupied
Palestine [i.e. Israel], 1948 Palestine, the 1948 territories [i.e.
Israel, created in 1948]... Greetings to our people in Acre, Nazareth,
Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa [all Israeli cities - ed.]... May your
Palestinian identity be rooted in your hearts and minds. Allah willing,
one day Palestine will be Palestine again!"

Arab children, taught in palestinian summer camps, are recorded speaking
about returning to Jaffa, Haifa, and Beersheva, Acre and other Israeli
cities.

Your ambassador to Israel was quoted as saying, “"We Norwegians consider
the occupation to be the cause of the terror against Israel."

Of course, the Arab definition of occupation includes Tel Aviv and
Haifa. And let’s not forget, their terror began many years prior to
1967. Some 1,000 Jews were murdered by Arab terrorists between 1948 to
1967, sacrifices for our existence as a people in our land.

I suggest that you worry about your own people. Your problems are just beginning:

“…Oslo will eventually become Oslostan. It’s not going to happen
straightaway, but it that’s the way its going. More and more Muslims
arrive here from abroad, and many Norwegians convert. Personally I know
of five converts. Here it’s all about Islam; Islam is strong, so why
fight it?”
[http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/05/everything-you-have-learned-in-school-is-wrong/]

It should also be noted that the justice system fails native Norwegians
by giving out lenient punishment and failing to invest resources against
the epidemic of Muslim men raping Norwegian women.
[http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2013/05/muslims-dominate-the-natives-on-the-streets-of-norway/].

You wrote in the Jerusalem Post, in May, 2011, “Norway’s response to the
terrorist attacks in Oslo and on Utoeya is more openness, democracy and
tolerance.”

Let’s see just where your tolerance leads, and how long it lasts. Your
country loses $713,000 on every Muslim immigrant arriving in Norway.
[http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/norway-loses-713000-on-every-muslim-immigrant/]

Espen Barth Eide: we will not allow you to again take part in the
continued attempts by our Arab neighbors to take our land from us – all
of our land, including Jerusalem, Hebron, Tel Aviv or anywhere else.
This is our home, this is our land. We will not leave. We demand that
you mind your own business, take your impolite, unwanted, Tiph
‘observers’ back with you to your cursed Oslo, and leave Israel alone.
For their goal is to destroy the State of Israel. Is this your goal too?

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Disgrace Redux

David WilderAugust 19, 2013

Actually, it’s been quite some time since I’ve been detained by the police.One of my favorite visitors to Hebron is Rebbetzin
Esther Jungreis. I’ve known her for just about as long as I’ve been
working here, close to 20 years. A frequent visitor to Ma’arat
HaMachpela, she brings diverse groups of people, always interested in
what’s going on. Her groups are also invariably spiritual. The Rebbetzin
and her groups invest much time worshiping at Machpela.

Late this morning a small group, led by Rebbetzin
Jungreis, left Jerusalem, stopping first at Rachel’s tomb and then
continuing to Ma’arat HaMachpela in Hebron. We began with brief
explanations outside the building. One significant point always made is
the fact that for 700 years Jews and Christians were forbidden from
entering this holy site. Only since our return in 1967 do we again have
the right, and privilege to pray inside the huge, 2000 year old monument
above the caves of Machpela. When I’m asked why Jews live in Hebron, one of the
answers deals specifically with this issue. Our neighbors make it quite
clear that should they ever control this holy site, it will again be
off-limits to anyone not of the Islamic faith.Having related this information to the Jungreis group,
we then proceeded to ascend the many stairs leading to the second floor
of the building. We entered the first, outer room, and I continued,
leading the way, into the original structure.

However, to my surprise, a
border policeman stood in the doorway and told me: Entrance Forbidden.
You have to wait.For what? The Muezzin, the Arab Moslem who operates
the loud speakers which blast out their prayers, five times a day, was
being escorted to the room from which the audio is operated. Until he
was safely tucked away in that room, we couldn’t go in.What, I asked, are be back in
1929? Because of an Arab, we can’t go inside?

On the 'Jewish side' of the building?

We have to wait? Where is
our honor - the honor of Am Yisrael, the honor of Abraham? Let him wait
for me. I have to wait for him?!?The border policeman refused to relent and put his
arms up, blocking my way. That notwithstanding, I did my best to get
around, or under his outstretched arms. This, of course, brought other
security forces running, police and border police officers. I was
accused of ‘pushing’ the border policeman and ‘disturbing the peace.’ I finally convinced them to allow my group inside –
their time was limited. But I was detained. An officer demanded that I
‘promise not to do it again.’ I refused. How can I describe to my group,
that for 700 years, we had no access to this site, and now, in 2013,
explain to them that we must wait for an Arab to walk the halls of this
holy place before we can go in? It makes no sense.

A policeman who I’m usually friendly with, started
reading me the riot act, how I was totally off-center, and now, was
being, not arrested, but detained, but if I didn’t follow orders and
walk quietly, like a good boy, to the police station, for interrogation,
I would be arrested and it would be much much worse.

Ugh!

Seeing that some of the police were upset with the
entire incident, and trying to find a way to ‘climb down from the tree,’
I offered partial repentance: ‘Ok, I shouldn’t have started with the
border policeman at the entrance. He’s just following orders. This issue
should be taken up with higher-ranking officers.’ But this wasn’t
enough for the officer in charge. So I abandoned my group, and was
marched to the nearby police station.The border policeman who had been ‘attacked’ followed
us down the stairs. He was visibly upset. Being religious and also
realizing that I really hadn’t done anything wrong, he looked rather
disgusted with the entire episode. But, he had been told by his
superiors to relate his side of the story to the police, allowing them
to then ‘deal with me’ – the bad guy.I sat there for a while, sent out a whatsapp to my
colleagues, informing them of my incarceration, and made a few phone
calls to choice friends who could help alleviate the situation. About a
half hour later I was

told

I could leave.

Phew!

Thankfully my group hadn’t left yet. I had a chance to
see them off. But I felt bad that I hadn’t been able to guide them at
this so very special a site. Some of them didn’t realize what had
transpired, and when I told them I’d been detained by the police, they
couldn’t believe it. Well, some of them. Others, understanding a bit
about what happens here, weren’t so surprised. On the one hand I find it difficult to comprehend how
we act so contemptibly towards ourselves. Where is our self pride? On
the other hand, this is what happens on Temple Mount in Jerusalem,
daily. This is disgrace redux. A self-disdain, a conscious
or unconscious unawareness of our most basic

right to live freely in our
land.

Once it was the Turks and then the British. What excuse is their today?

Friday, August 16, 2013

A ‘two-state solution’ is a contradiction in
termsDavid WilderAugust 16, 2013

It was exactly three
years ago that I wrote Serving
Israel on a Silver Platter. It is just as relevant today as it was then,
but in the name of rejuvenation, a few more points can be added.

First, in speaking with
groups here in Hebron, many ask me about the ‘two state solution.’ I explain to
them that it is not going to happen. Why?

Hizbullah in the north,
Syria to the east, and Egypt and Hamas to the south. And who knows how long it
will be until Jordan faces the same issues. And let’s not forget Iran.

That’s what we’re dealing
with at present. Can we add to that creation of another enemy state, which will
leave Israel with a nine-mile wide border. So, we won’t only be dealing with rockets from
Gaza on Ashkelon, and even Tel Aviv, rather, from Tulkarem and Kalkliya on
Petach Tikva, Netanya and Hadera. (See Mark Langfan’s map: http://bit.ly/13EHk8w)

And what about our main
airport, Ben Gurion, which will be about 5 kilometers from ‘palestine?’

Yaakov Amidror was a
General in the Israeli army, and held a number of high-level posts, including responsibility
for Israeli intelligence. He is presently the director of Israel’s National
Security Agency and is a top advisor to Netanyahu.

Amidror: Without Israeli control of the relevant territory east of
the 1967 line, there is no way the Israel Defense Forces can prevent the firing
of rockets and mortars from the hills dominating Ben-Gurion International
Airport. One mortar shell per week in its vicinity will be enough to stop air
transport completely…In 1974, a study undertaken by the U.S. Army's Command and
Staff College reached the same conclusion as the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In
order to defend itself, Israel must control the high ground east of the central
axis along the West Bank's mountain ridge…"From a strictly military
point of view, Israel would require the retention of some captured Arab
territory in order to provide militarily defensible borders." According to
the Joint Chiefs, their determination of the territory to be retained was based
on "accepted tactical principles such as control of commanding terrain,
use of natural obstacles, elimination of enemy-held salients, and provision of
defense in depth for important facilities and installations…In the West Bank Israel should "control the prominent
high ground running north-south."

Others who have
voiced an opinion on this topic:

Henry Kissinger: ‘Israel needs
defensible borders and he adds that Israel must not be pressured to withdraw to
the 1967 lines’ – South Vietnam had international guarantees from twenty
countries. Yet when North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, no country took
Kissinger's telephone calls. His implication was clear: do not rely on
guarantees and risk withdrawing to the 1967 lines.

Shimon Peres told Ma'ariv in
June 1976: "One must ensure that Israel will not only have length but
width. We must not be tempted by all kinds of advisers and journalists to
return to a country whose waist is 14 kilometers wide."

The late Mordechai Gur, as Chief of
Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, told Newsweek in May 1978 that as a
military man he had no doubt that to defend Israel it was necessary to remain
in the high ground of the mountains of Judea and Samaria – from Hebron to
Nablus. He also explained that Israel needed to remain in the Jordan Valley.

And the late Moshe Dayan, Israel's
former Chief of Staff, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Foreign Affairs: "Whatever
settlement is reached with the Palestinians and the Jordanians, the key
positions that guarantee Israel's defense must be left to the free and
exclusive use of the Israel Defense Forces. Those positions are the Jordan
Valley and the mountain spine."

And finally, the words of the late Yitzhak
Rabin: "We will not return to the lines of June 4, 1967 – the security
border for defending the State of Israel will be in the Jordan Valley, in the
widest sense of that concept."In
1980 he determined: "Our evacuation of the West Bank would create the
greatest threat we can possibly face."

What has changed
since then? Little things, like thousands of rockets shot into Israel from southern
Lebanon in 2006 and from Gaza - land which we gave to our enemies.

In conclusion, we still
have a lot of work to do, but, it is not going to happen:
a) the Israeli public is beginning to wake up. According to a poll published
today in Ma’ariv/NRG.co.il: "53% of Israelis are not willing
to give up land in Judea and Samaria, even in exchange for Palestinians
giving up the right of return and recognition of Israel as a Jewish
state. 57% believe that Oslo hurt Israel."

b) the numbers don’t add up. According to Dr. Guy Bechor, head of the Middle East Division at the Lauder School of Government,
there are presently some million four hundred thousand Arabs in Judea, Samaria
and Jerusalem.In the same area, today reside about 700,000 Jews; that is,
385,000 in Judea and Samaria and about 300,000 in Jerusalem. “In other words, the number of Jews is already equal to half the
Palestinian population in the "territories." This figure is amazing,
since during the second intifada Jews in Judea and Samaria numbered only
190,000. In a decade they have doubled their numbers.”

(These
numbers do not take into account my expectation that in the next few decades,
the Israeli population is going to double, as a result of mass aliyah
(immigration) from the west. Many of the next 6 million Jews moving to Israel
will undoubtedly live in Judea and Samaria, where there is still much open land
waiting to be developed.)

c) And finally, a two-state solution, as being suggested
at present, is ultimately a contradiction in terms. A so-called ‘palestinian
state,’ alongside Israel, will continue our defense predicaments and generate
new issues. It will create a lethal
threat to the continued existence of the Jewish state and there is no reason
for us to allow this to happen. It’s a no-brainer.

Monday, August 5, 2013

The first time was many years ago. I had just concluded explanations about Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael” which arrived in Hebron from Slobodka, in Lithuania in 1924. The Hebron Heritage Museum at Beit Hadassah features an exhibit about this illustrious Torah-learning academy, nicknamed the ‘Hebron Yeshiva,’ which includes a ‘class picture’ from 1928.

As I finished my brief account, an older man approached me, put his finger on a picture of one of the yeshiva students and asked me, ‘do you see him? That’s me.’

That was Rabbi Dov Cohen, a phenomenal Torah genius, who, following my tour, came back to Hebron and gave us his tour.

I always thought that this was a ‘once in a lifetime event,’ having someone point themselves out in a photo taken so many decades ago, here in Hebron.

But it happened again.

On Friday afternoon the Farbstein family came into Hebron for Shabbat. Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Farbstein, today dean of the ‘Hebron yeshiva,’ now located in Jerusalem, arrived with his wife and many grandchildren. And his mother, Rabbanit Chana Farbstein.

Chana Farbstein was born in 1923. Her father was Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, a Torah giant. Her grandfather was the legendary Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, dean of the yeshiva, located then located in Slobodka, which, a year or so later, moved to Hebron. Chana lived in Hebron until the 1929 riots, in an apartment next to Eliezer Dan Slonim and his family.

Friday afternoon, before Shabbat, the Farbsteins took a short tour of Hebron, which began in the museum. When we approached the Hebron Yeshiva exhibit, she moved, as hypnotized, to one of the photos on the bottom row, stared at it, and then pointed to a small girl in the right corner, saying, ‘that’s me.’ To her right, a young woman had her hand on little Chana’s shoulder. ‘That’s my mother.’

A ‘once in a lifetime event.’ And it happened to me for a second time.

Chana later told us that she must have been about four years old at the time the photo was taken.

Even though she was barely five and a half at the time of the riots, she remembered them quite clearly: “I remember a big truck going through the streets. They were throwing rocks at our house and calling out my father’s name ‘Chezkel.’ They were looking for him. It was our good luck, he was in Jerusalem.”

“Do you remember what was told to you, what was going on?”

“No one had to explain. We knew exactly what was happening.”

She said that on Saturday afternoon, her family was removed from Hebron and taken to the ‘Strauss Building’ in Jerusalem, across the street from ‘Bikor Cholim hospital. Asked when she ‘left’ the city,’ she replied: “We didn’t leave. The British came, on Shabbat, and took us to Jerusalem.”

Later she also spoke about remembering the pain of having to pray at the 7th step at Ma’arat HaMachpela, not being allowed to enter the structure. “We would stand there for a few minutes, and then leave.”

Were relations with Arabs always poor? “No, when we went shopping in the market an Arab with a large round basket would go with us. We would put the produce we wanted into the basket, he would carry it and later bring it to our home.”

Chana Farbstein is a phenomenal woman. She also stood with us on Friday afternoon, at the cemetery in Hebron, where 59 of the 67 massacre victims are buried. Her son, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Farbstein, recited two Psalms at the site, his voice breaking, sensing the atrocities and pain of the events occurring 84 years ago.

The next morning, Mrs. Farbstein walked from Beit Hadassah to Ma’arat HaMachpela for morning prayers, and later in the afternoon, to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood to attend a special class presented by her daughter-in-law, Dr. Esther Farbstein, an expert on Holocaust studies, author of the book, “Hidden in Thunder.”

After Shabbat, as I arrived to interview her, I found her sweeping the floor.

Her son, Rabbi Farbstein, told me that that last winter she had been very ill, and there was grave concern that she might not recover. But recover she did, and despite only meeting her for the first time, her inner strength and iron will were quite obvious.

The Hebron yeshiva lost 24 students during the massacre. The Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein moved the Torah academy to Jerusalem, but never really recovered from the horrors of that awful day, dying five years later. But the family tradition of Torah greatness continues, as was apparent during the Rabbi’s Torah class Saturday afternoon. Asked why the yeshiva hadn’t returned to Hebron following the 1967 Six day war, Rabbi Farbstein related that his grandfather, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, met with then Prime Minister Levy Eshkol to discuss this matter. ‘Eshkol,’ he said, ‘basically scared my grandfather, saying that he shouldn’t take such responsibility on himself. ‘

“However, every year, on Tisha B’Av, after reciting Lamentations, my grandfather would get on a bus and come to Hebron, to visit at Ma’arat HaMachpela.”

My encounter with the Farbsteins, and especially with Rabbanit Chana, left me full of wonder and amazement. As we left them Saturday night, I told her, ‘here in Hebron we are blessed with ‘zechut avot,’ with the birthright of our ancestors, beginning with Abraham, thru to King David, and continuing on to such heroes as your father and grandfather. We are links in a chain, trying to follow in their footsteps, to continue where they left off. “

This is our inheritance, our legacy, an eternal bequest, from time immemorial.

About Me

David Wilder began working with the Jewish Community
of Hebron in 1994. He served as the English spokesman for the community for 21
years, granting newspaper, television and radio interviews internationally. He has
written hundreds of columns, posted on internet and appearing on websites and
in newspapers around the world. He
published a booklet of questions and answers about Hebron, titled, “Breaking the Lies.” Additionally he has acted in the capacity of community photographer
for over 17 years. He has published several ebooks of his photographs and
articles, available on Amazon. His blogs on the Jerusalem Post and at IsraelNational News have been read by over a half a million people.

Presently executive director of Eretz.Org, David represents
and assists several organizations, including the Neve Avraham ChildrenTreatment Center in Kiryat Arba-Hebron. He continues to conduct tours of
Hebron's Jewish Community and speaks to numerous groups in Hebron. He occasionally
travels abroad, speaking at various functions, explaining the true realities of
today's Israeli-Arab He is also a popular lecturer in Hebron, dealing with
diverse groups, including interfaith delegations, from around the world.

David Wilder has been in Israel for 40 years. He is
married to Ora, a ‘Sabra,’ for 36 years. They lived in Kiryat Arba for 17 years
and have resided at Beit Hadassah in Hebron for seventeen years. They have
seven children, five of whom are married and have many grandchildren.